


A Close Reading of One Small Moment & Appreciation of WendyMarlowe's Mastery of Storytelling

by RoseinMyHand



Category: Sherlock (TV), WendyMarlowe's "Dear John"
Genre: Dear John Fandom, M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:35:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseinMyHand/pseuds/RoseinMyHand





	A Close Reading of One Small Moment & Appreciation of WendyMarlowe's Mastery of Storytelling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wendymarlowe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendymarlowe/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Dear John](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2647979) by [wendymarlowe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendymarlowe/pseuds/wendymarlowe). 



There’s this moment in the first sex exchange (Chapter 25) where William has been holding back (shy, unsure, guilty?) while John is being (hot damn sexy) aggressive. 

Then, Sherlock starts to participate but really breaks when John starts to describe going down on him. Sherlock says: “I never thought you’d…” Stops himself. Says “It’s good” We, the readers know he’s amazed that John is actually not shying away from this oh-so-very queer sex AND he’s doubly overcome with imaging it actually being John and him.

John slightly misreads it as “I thought you’d never…” as in “I though you’d never been with a man before.”

That slight shift in position of the never in the sentence - from Sherlock’s heartbreaking “I never thought, you, John would want this” to John’s perception of the statement as “John, I thought you’d never done this” - the placement of that never KILLS me for Sherlock.

And then to just make Sherlock (and us) lose all control, this misreading elicits a confession from John that while he hasn’t actually done this before in real life, he “want[s] to. Want[s] to see what you taste like, how your hips would move when I tongued you and sucked and teased…” And more and more explicit, hot, fantasies. Showing us John has been thinking about this. A lot. Accepting his queer desires. Trying out what it would feel like, acting on them in real life.

For that next-level angst, several people (hotdiggitydollie, elizabeth-twist, hopelesslybenaddicted ) have pointed out that it is probably inevitable that John was actually picturing Sherlock with every action he fantasied about. Who else does he have to visualize?

And that is how you make wickedly hot smut - a. advance the plot, b.stay in character, c. break your readers’ hearts, d. be an essential part of the story

Damn, Wendy, damn.


End file.
